


Best Man I Ever Knew

by madnephelite



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madnephelite/pseuds/madnephelite
Summary: Vic is coping with the loss of the love of her life.





	Best Man I Ever Knew

**Author's Note:**

> Right now I need to get all the sadness out of my system so I'm writing stuff that deal with Lucas' death but after the finale next week I will go back to writing my happy fics where my favorite couple is alive and well and happily in love.

Vic is standing on the catwalk, looking down at her colleagues as they are gathering in the barn. They are wearing their dress blues, each with a mourning band on their badge, ready to go to a funeral. The funeral where they would say goodbye to Lucas Ripley, her Lucas Ripley.

They were supposed to get married and go on a vacation but instead he was about to be buried and she was left with nothing. 

“Vic, it’s time. You need to get dressed or we will be late.” she hears Travis say.

“I’m not going.” she tells him and folds her arms across her chest.

“Nobody wants to go to a funeral but you have to go.”

“Why? To say goodbye? I already did that. I said goodbye in the hospital and then he died in my arms. I’m not going and you need to back off.” she warns him.

“You will regret if you don’t go. Trust me.” Travis urges and takes a step forward only for Vic to take one backwards.

“I told you to back off. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because you’re in denial.”

“I know what happened, Travis. I lost the love of my life.” she yells and Travis takes a step back.

“I know exactly how you feel.” Travis tells her.

“No. Don’t! You got years with Michael. You got to celebrate your love with him in front of your friends and family. I have nothing. People will look at what we had as something that was wrong and dirty. I can’t go to his funeral and have people think the worst of him for being with me when he was the best man I ever knew who loved me unconditionally and wanted to marry me. I can’t tarnish his name and reputation more than I already have. So, I’m not going. He deserves to be remembered as the hero that he was.”

“Vic...” Travis tries again but Vic cuts him off.

“If you love me and care about me, you will just leave me be. Please, Travis.” Vic watches as her best friend hangs his head, nods, then turns around and leaves.

When she is sure that everyone is gone, she breaks down in her bunk room and just cries and cries.

How is this her life? How is it that she found happiness and love, someone she wanted to marry only to wake up with him gone forever?

There is a knock at the door and she is ready to send Travis to hell for not listening to her but instead it’s Sullivan.

“Can I come in?” he asks and Vic doesn’t think she has ever heard him sound so small and broken.

“It’s your station. You can do whatever you want.” she shrugs and hears Sullivan chuckle.

“I can see what Luke saw in you.” he says and Vic can’t help but chuckle as well.

“I yelled at him. Twice. Then I apologized and the rest is history. I didn’t realize quite how literally we would be history.” and then she is crying again. “What am I supposed to do? I go home and everything reminds me of him and just when I think there are no tears left I just start crying all over again.”

Sullivan looks at her helplessly before sitting down on the bed beside her.

“Honestly, there is nothing you can do. I’m not gonna lie you will feel this way for a very long time. I mean even after over fifteen years, I still sometimes wake up crying over my wife Claire and the pain just comes rushing back and it paralyzes me and I just let it until there are no more tears left and the pain finally subsides and then I pick myself back up and just go on.”

“I can’t imagine a world without Lucas in it. I know it must sound weird to you since we’ve only been together for a few months but we spend almost all of our time together and I don’t think I have ever been happier than when I was with him. I want him back. I don’t want to go bury him. I just want him to walk through that door and hold me and tell me that everything is okay and that he is not going anywhere. I want to wake up from this nightmare.” Vic starts sobbing again as Sullivan wraps his arms around her. He doesn’t say anything just holds her and Vic is grateful.

Several minutes pass before he finally lets go of her and Vic can see tears in his eyes as well.

“I will not tell you what to do. It’s your decision to go or not to go. Just make sure that it’s for the right reasons.”

She looks at him, takes a breath and nods.

“Can you give me a minute to get dressed?” she asks and he smiles and nods.

“Sure, Hughes. I’ll be outside.”

\----------

Vic manages to get through the funeral. She keeps repeating Sullivan’s words in her head over and over which helps and also holding on to Jennifer, her last connection to Lucas. 

There is a wake for Lucas after his funeral. Everyone from the Seattle Fire Department is there to pay his respects and Vic is trying really hard to ignore the stares and the whispers but there comes a point where she just can’t and she is just done with playing nice.

There is a little stage with a microphone so Vic walks up there and takes the microphone.

“For those that don’t know me, I’m Victoria Hughes and I was Chief Lucas Ripley’s fiancee. I may have been his subordinate but I was never some random hookup or his dirty little secret. Let me tell you something about Lucas Ripley. He was the best man I ever knew. He was a great firefighter who loved his job and the people in this department, so much that he ran into a burning building himself to save one of his Captain’s lives and he paid the ultimate price for that. He was smart, funny and goofy. He always made me smile. He respected this department and gave his all to it. He was all about the rules and policy but there are no rules when it comes to love. And not that I owe any of you an explanation or that it’s any of your business but I can’t let you tear this man down just because he fell in love with me. Say what you want about me. I’m still here I can defend myself but Lucas is not here and I won’t let any of you be disrespectful to him when he gave so much to this department and all of you. He doesn’t deserve this. He was good and kind and fair. He was brave and a hero who deserves nothing but your respect.” she managed to hold back the tears during her speech and then she lets the mic fall to the ground and just walks out of the room.

Sullivan finds her again a few minutes later. 

“I know I shouldn’t have done that Captain but I just couldn’t let them talk about Lucas that way.” she reasons and Sullivan nods.

“Hey, if you hadn’t gone up there I would have.” Vic looks up at him in surprise.

He sits down beside her.

“We may have had our differences but he was the best man that I knew.”

“Sully?...” Vic starts but stops immediately. “I’m sorry. Lucas used to call you that, I shouldn’t have.”

“No, it’s okay. You can call me Sully.” he smiles and Vic smiles back.

“Can you tell me about him? I only got a few months with him but you had years.” For a moment Vic thinks that he won’t share his stories about Lucas with her because it might be painful for him to do it but he surprises her again.

“He was all about the rules and protocol until...”

“He met me?” Sully nods.

“That’s how I knew that you meant a great deal to him. He would have never risked his career for a fling. He also had the worst poker face I have ever seen.” Vic starts laughing.

“That’s how Travis figured us out.” she tells Sully the story and her Captain can’t help but laugh as well.

“He couldn’t keep a straight face when I mentioned that I sent you home when you were sick and I just knew that it was you he was seeing. I told him to find you and tell you how he feels if it was real for him.”

“He told me he loved me that night.” Vic remembers and smiles.

“I also promised to protect you if needed. I intend to keep that promise.” he tells her and Vic nods.

“Thank you, Sully.” he smiles at her and Vic is grateful to have him on her side. 

“So, this one time at the fire academy, Luke...” Sullivan starts telling Vic one story after another as she listens intently. In that moment right there with Lucas’ best friend she feels close to her love again. 

At some point, Jennifer joins them and starts telling her some more stories from their childhood. Vic laughs through many of the stories and shakes her head at some others at how ridiculous they are and even though it hurts that Lucas himself didn’t get to share those stories with her she is glad that there are people that can share them with her.


End file.
